Value. USA vs Europe....

[Wolfmann]

It seems that the W113 series fetch far more money in Europe than in the USA. It appears possible to buy a nice and complete example in the US for around $30K or less whereas much of the time in England this would only buy a project with loads of work or numerous missing parts.

Is the difference in value down to tastes in differing countries, availability and numbers issues or something else that I haven't thought of

Just wondered,

Steve.

[Cees Klumper]

I would venture to guess that it is a combination of supply and demand (half the total production of Pagodas went to the US so there are a lot of them there); tastes and other cultural factors differ and are subject to change, and exchange rate effects. The US$ is relatively weak against many other currencies including the euro. But even within Europe there are differences in value, for example it seems that, in Switzerland, Pagodas are worth considerably more than in, say, France or the Netherlands. Again probably a number of factors would explain this. Things like wealth levels, societal attitudes towards cars like this, historic factors (Germany has a different relationship to cars built in the country than, say, France towards German-built cars), and so on.

[jaymanek]

In the 60's, the british made some fantastic sports cars and German cars were very expensive in comparison.
That coupled with the fact that the war wasnt long before meant that the car was never as popular here as it should have been.

You are correct that there just arent many around in Europe and this is due to the above and also the simple fact that many more were sold in the USA.

Also most places in Europe have climates that encourage corrosion so many cars have simply rotted away.

Supply & demand...

If it was cheaper/simpler/less red tape to ship from the USA, a lot more classic car dealers would be doing it.

[Neil Thompson]

Also in the UK the biggest factor for demanding the highest prices must be the position of the steering wheel! This along with the rust issue alone makes it difficult to find quality RHD at sensible prices. I've just bought a nice looking 1970 280 for strong money but far from the perfect cars that seem to be available across the Atlantic for much less, if only the Ziebart protection worked!

Neil

[Ulf]

My guess is that more than half of the 113s here in Denmark are actually dry-state US imports, the ones originally sold here probably died with the disco in the 70's...

[Surfer65sl]

Very interesting comments and educational.  I recently sold my 65 sl for $19,500 to a really good guy from the UK.  It was a great driver but certainly not a perfect car like some of our members...I lhad a friend from an auto body shop respray it in light ivory for a decent price so ...I had the low $20's into it but felt like $19,500 was still a fair price for the enjoyment I had for over 11 years.  The reason for selling was because I found a an early 911 to work on and finished restoring.  I couldnt keep both cars and decided to keep the lil red 911 w sunroof...I was unaware of the supply demand dynamic, that most of thes cars were in the US.  The gentleman who purchased my car did not care that it was  LHD vehicle.  Perhaps he took the risk of not seeing in person (after reviewing several photos) because of the value you can obtain in Europe.